Delhi Riots: Bail cannot be granted to those who seek to bleed and break the country, SG to HC

New Delhi: The Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta made arguments against bail pleas of Umar Khalid & Sharjeel Imam the Delhi Riots case today.

"Not a question of bail, just bail, like in any other bail case. We are dealing with well organised and orchestrated riots which starts in the capital, at a particular time and day," he said, specifically stating that even though long incarceration is a ground for bail, it cannot be when one is hellbent on bleeding the nation and breaking it into two parts.

"Imam and Khalid used this particular day (of the riots) to defame India on a global level. I will show documents to prove, why bench must not to treat this as any other bail matter. The well determined and well orchestrated mechanisms will show deviations which lead to no ground of bail," the SG said.

The top law officer has also informed the court today that the investigation carried out in the present cases has been one of the finest he had ever seen. "To satisfy conscience of the court, there are 58 statements recorded under section 164 (of the CrPc)," he told Court

He further read out the speech of Imam in Court and the consequent statements made by Umar Khalid to incite violence in the capital.

"Sharjeel Imam has made it clear through his speech that he wanted to break the nation, through a particular religion that he played. He said 'Chicken neck musalmano ka hai' in his speech. He wanted to incite people. This is not an ordinary speech," SG said, adding that the the narrative that now 'intellectuals are in jail' must be brought to its knees, because it was apparent as to what these 'intellectuals' were really doing, he said.

He further pointed out statement by various protected witnesses made before the magistrate to demonstrate that the riots were orchestrated and pre-planned by the kingpins.

"Imam has delivered a speech on 23rd january 2020 which says - "Humare paas 4 hafte hain, agle sunwayi tak, sarkar toh chhodo, court ko uski nani yaad ajaye,Clear, unambiguous intention to put India to shame, when President of a nation was to visit our country. They say in a chat, 'Trump will be in Delhi on 24th-25th February. Can we do something that will affect delhi?' They say "Delhi" as if its a foreign country. On 23rd February, 2020, the riots in delhi broke. How the global media took this case - that was their intention. They wanted the global media to take note of this and the country is defamed."

A division bench comprising Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur have put up the case tomorrow at 4 pm for hearing, while instructing Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad to address the court on why the statements of the protected witnesses should not be taken on record.

Thus, while doing so, the court has also reserved orders in bail pleas of co accused Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Mohd. Saleem Khan, Shifa ur Rehman, Athar Khan, Khalid Saifi and Gulfisha Fatima.

Background:

On October 18, 2022, the Delhi High Court had dismissed the appeal filed by Umar Khalid challenging the lower court's order dismissing his bail application. The High Court denied bail to Khalid stating, "This court expresses the inescapable conclusion that allegations against the appellant are prima facie true".

Imam's bail plea has also challenged the order, dated 11 February 2022, wherein the Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai of Karkardooma court had previously denied any relief to the JNU student stating that Imam's speeches intended to create 'public disorder' and 'incitement to violence' and also appeared to challenge the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India. The Supreme Court, recently, refused to entertain an Article 32 petition, noting that Imam could not have moved such a petition before the top court while his bail plea was pending before the Delhi High Court.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), while expanding its team of prosecutors, brought Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on board to present the prosecution's case before the Delhi High Court in the Delhi riots 'larger conspiracy' case, which pertains to the violence that had engulfed North East Delhi in February 2020.

During the last hearing, SG Mehta had appeared before the court through video conferencing. While the Special Public Prosecutor for Delhi Police had sought additional time, the Court had accordingly allowed the request and adjourned the matter to July 9.

The accused have challenged the trial court orders before the High Court, which denied them bail, citing the embargo under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

During an earlier bail hearing of Sharjeel Imam, his counsel had told the court that the accused had no relation to the place and time of the alleged conspiracy. He had contended that the speeches by the Imam, as well as WhatsApp communication, did not contain any instigation for violence.

Other than Imam, there are nearly seventeen accused in the case. Delhi Police's Special Cell had registered FIR 59 of 2020, which names several accused, including Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Tahir Hussain, Khalid Saifi, Ishrat Jahan, Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima, Shifa-ur-Rehman, and others.

The accused persons have been booked under the stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) as well as various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including criminal conspiracy, promoting enmity, rioting, murder, etc.

The case stems from the violence that broke out in Northeast Delhi in 2020 during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, which followed widespread clashes between the supporters and opponents of the Act. Several incidents of stone-pelting, arson, and violent protests were reported, which had left nearly 53 dead and injured thousands.

Parallelly, proceedings are ongoing before the trial court. The case is currently at the stage of arguments on charge.

It is the prosecution's case that the violence that engulfed the streets of Delhi was not spontaneous in nature but a pre-planned act intended to destabilise the Indian government during an already sensitive political time.

The prosecution has alleged that the accused individuals, namely Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, were the kingpins behind the violence that shook Delhi. On the other hand, the accused deny the allegations, maintaining that they were exercising their democratic right to dissent.